Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 19/02) - Sharp-eyed shoppers have good reason to price-watch at some Yellowknife stores.

"We have to be careful the consumer isn't short-changed," said Yellowknife Shoppers Drug Mart owner Daryl Dolynny.

Last week, the Yellowknife store joined a program that will guard consumers against overpayment for mis-priced items scanned and sold at cashier counters.

"It's a voluntary issue. It's not legislated," said Dolynny.

Not everybody has confidence in the technology where a cashier passes an item over a scanner that totals the price from a barcode. So now, if a customer pays a scanned price that is higher than the displayed shelf price or any other advertised price then the customer will get back the cost of the first item to a maximum of $10. If the product is more than $10 then the customer is entitled to a $10 reduction off the corrected price.

The voluntary code is part of a campaign by four national retail associations.

A 1999 Oregon survey showed more than 42 per cent of supermarkets and retail stores failed to meet a recommended 98-per-cent pricing accuracy for check-out scanners. But the survey also showed that people were undercharged as often as overcharged.

"Now we can demonstrate to consumers we are dedicated to price accuracy," said Dolynny, who added retailers felt consumer confidence was in jeopardy.

"It is actually a law in Quebec since July 2000."

Shoppers Drug Mart is involved in the program through the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores. Other organizations include the Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors.

Wal-Mart is another Yellowknife chain store involved in the program.

Many Co-operative stores in Canada are participating in the program but the Yellowknife store isn't one of them.

"All our Co-ops are independently run," said spokesperson Chris McCarville. "We don't have a standard policy."

Accuracy is a key consideration to Co-ops though. A shelf label price is considered to be advertising by Industry Canada and falls under the same advertising regulations.